Britain is the 10th most vulnerable terrorist target in the world, with a higher ranking than Russia, Liberia, Yemen and Lebanon, according to a study published today.

A "sophisticated militant Islamic network", the UK's close relationship with the US and its involvement in the Iraq war, and symbolic targets including the Houses of Parliament make the UK highly susceptible to terrorism, the study reports.

The World Markets Research Centre, country risk specialists whose clients include governments and multinational companies, ranked the US fourth behind Colombia, Israel and Pakistan in its Global Terrorism Index for 2003-04.

The authors of the study say the US is "highly likely" to face an attack similar to those of September 11 2001 within the next 12 months.

Countries normally associated with terrorism such as Yemen, Lebanon and Russia, which has suffered attacks by Chechen separatists, are perceived to be safer than the UK.

France and Germany, both of which opposed the Iraq war, are ranked 23rd and 41st respectively.

The London-based WMRC assessed the risk of terrorism in 186 sovereign states, and against those countries' interests abroad, over the next 12 months.

Each country was scored out of 10 for five risk criteria: the motivation, capabilities and presence of terrorist groups, the potential scale of the damage and the effectiveness of counter-terrorism forces.

Guy Dunn, director of research for the WMRC, said Britain was a "prize target" for terrorist groups such as al-Qaida because of its close association with the US.

"The US is obviously the target number one for al-Qaida and other similar terrorist groups," Mr Dunn told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He said that Britain was also vulnerable because "it's the most prized target in western Europe [and] the fact that there is a sophisticated militant Islamic network in place in the UK".

Mr Dunn added: "Finally, despite the redeeming factor of its strong counter-terrorist capability, al-Qaida, if it does have a calling card, does synchronised and symbolic terrorist attacks. London is probably unique in the world for the sheer number of symbolic targets that it has.

"So if the attack on the World Trade Centre is an attack against western capitalism, or US capitalism, what price an attack against the mother of parliaments?"

Mr Dunn said it was not surprising that Colombia and Israel took the top two places on the list.

He added: "The other real eye-catching one is probably the US that comes in fourth place. It's arguably less of a surprise than the UK, because of the 9/11 attacks, but it's still very sobering to see it in that area.

"One of the real reasons why the US is so high is not just because of the potential threat of a further attack on US soil, but also the high risk to US commercial and business interests worldwide, where they are considered softer targets than on US soil."

He added: "Networks of militant Islamist groups are less extensive in the US than they are in western Europe, but US-led military action in Afghanistan and Iraq has exacerbated anti-US sentiment.

"Another September 11-style terrorist attack in the United States is highly likely."